New event series this year! The Jewish Studies faculty is hosting quarterly seminars featuring the research projects of our Jewish Studies Graduate Fellows. These talks will take place at lunchtime, 12:00-1:30 pm, on the UW campus. Join us to hear about the latest innovations in the field from our talented class of 2016-17 fellows!

Vegetarian lunch will be provided; please RSVP so that we can plan our catering accordingly. Everyone who RSVPs will receive an advance copy of the research paper to be discussed.

First Presentation: Zachary Tavlin, “Polishing Crystals in the Twilight: Spinoza, Borges, and the Literary Imagination”

On Thursday, December 8th at 12:00 pm, Zachary Tavlin, a PhD candidate in the Department of English, will present “Polishing Crystals in the Twilight: Spinoza, Borges, and the Literary Imagination.” Zachary Tavlin is the 2017-17 Richard M. Willner Memorial Scholar at the Stroum Center. He is a PhD candidate in the UW Department of English. He received his BA in Philosophy from The George Washington University in 2011, and his MA in Philosophy from Louisiana State University in 2013. He is currently writing a dissertation on nineteenth-century American literature, the visual arts, and embodied phenomenology. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on topics including psychoanalysis, Victorian materialisms, eco-criticism, poetics, philosophy and American literature, and film theory.

Check out Zachary Tavlin’s new blog post, Is It Time to Reconsider Marlowe’s and Shakespeare’s Jews?

Prof. Michael Rosenthal, this year’s Samuel and Althea Stroum Chair, will serve as the respondent to Zachary’s paper. Prof. Rosenthal is faculty for the UW Department of Philosophy. He teaches and publishes in the areas of early modern philosophy, ethics, political philosophy, and Jewish philosophy. Prof. Rosenthal’s current research focuses on the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza, and he is currently finishing a book on Baruch Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise.

Check out Prof. Rosenthal’s blog post, Was Spinoza a Heretic or a Theologian?

Save the dates for the Winter Quarter and Spring Quarter Graduate Fellow presentations:

Thursday, March 9th, 12:00-1:30 pm: Oded Oron (JSIS-International Studies) and Esra Bakkalbasioglu (JSIS-Near and Middle Eastern Studies) will speak on Refugees and Minorities in Israel

Thursday, May 11th, 12:00-1:30 pm: Ozgur Ozkan (JSIS-International Studies) and Emily Gade (Political Science) will speak on Life in Conflict Zones